


Connections

by LaceyLackadaisical



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Gen, Post-Episode 115
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-15
Updated: 2018-11-08
Packaged: 2019-08-02 15:18:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16307657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaceyLackadaisical/pseuds/LaceyLackadaisical
Summary: Well the world as they knew it didn't end and life goes on (or not, as the case may be), but new threats to Exandria are bound to arise.Luckily the Raven Queen likes to keep an eye on the weave of fate, and now she has a champion free to go and tug on the loose threads...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Additional character / theme tags will be added when encountered.  
> Updates on Thursdays.

Chapter One

Vax took one last look at the group gathered behind him, then with a weary sigh of acceptance, closed his eyes as he walked into the darkness of Her form, leaving just the forlorn path of snowdrops.  
But instead of the expected oblivion, he stumbled and opened his eyes instinctively to find himself in a circular chamber, organic seeming bone-coloured walls and floor, looking at a staircase spiralling upwards. Shrugging his shoulders and following it upwards, he climbed for some time until it lead out into another chamber, with several arched openings covered by ornately carved shutters, and a female figure standing facing him across the room.

He recognized her immediately from his first true encounter in the blood pool of the Raven’s Crest temple. The wavy dark hair, crimson irises and pale skinned but human features as surprising a contrast to her usual spiritual form now, as it had been back then. Her expression was stoic, yet somehow in the air, in her eyes, Vax sensed what seemed like a faint hint of…. nervousness? Trepidation?

“Thank you for allowing me the chance to say goodbye to my friends” he said, and impulsively strode across the room to embrace her in a hug.  
Vax felt her freeze in shock, but as he was inwardly reflecting that his recklessness may have gone a step too far this time, his Queen’s arms came up around him and held him close to her with a ferocity he hadn’t anticipated.  
“Even now you surprise me, Vax’ildan” she said, her face pressed into his shoulder, “most blame me for what comes from their own actions, and do not recognize my hand when it does intervene in their favour”.  
Her grip slackened and she stepped back, drawing a finely knitted shawl around her. Vax looked down awkwardly, suddenly feeling the temerity of hugging a deity, even if she did appear to be a mortal person right now.

Her voice grew more formal. “But I’m afraid your story doesn’t end here, my champion. Vecna may be defeated and banished, but his absence leaves a void which another will surely rise to fill. Life and death, power and loss, such is the endless cycle of the world, and you are my instrument to keep that cycle turning.”  
Vax dropped to his knees, “I am yours my queen” he whispered, “and I do not claim to know what path is right, but if I am to continue in your service, surely I could have done more with Vox Machina that I can on my own?”

The Raven Queen looked down on him. “I did not take you from your friends without reason, Vax’ildan.”   
She turned to the closest pair of shutters and drew them back, revealing a window into what seemed like the night sky on a clear moonless night, inky blackness speckled with stars in a clear band. Looking far into the deep, she continued.   
“For some time now, I have detected some sort of connection between our little cluster of realities and another. Some strand of consciousness or line of communication perhaps. I’m not quite sure.” She turned her gaze back onto the kneeling half-elf and smiled gently.   
“It was what drew me to you initially. You and your little band were the end-point of the first connection I noticed. I watched for some time, but could not see what influence it might be having. When you offered yourself to me you were fate-touched indeed, as had I not already been aware, perhaps we would not be where we are now.” The smile faded.   
“But a little more than a year ago, these strands started to proliferate. More and more are appearing, without any apparent interaction, but each centring on individuals who have potential to influence events. It began to concern me. And then circumstances rather overtook us.”

Vax looked up at her again as she sighed and turned back to the window.   
“Thankfully you prevailed, and the natural order is restored, for now at least. But ever I must be vigilant. These connections – what lies at the other ends? They are unlike the threads of fate which wind around all mortals, yet there is some similarity to them as well – what does that mean? Could these strands be used to twist fate? Are they being used already? I am not the only power that may have caught notice of them.”

Here she paused, apparently lapsing into thought for a time. Vax shifted uncomfortably as his knees pressed into the cold floor. She whirled around at the slight sound, then relaxed as her eyes focused on him.  
“Anyway, first things first. I must have more information and my vision only stretches so far. So you will go beyond and find the source, find what intelligence is reaching out to us, watch the watcher and divine if it be benign, impartial or malign, then return to me and share what you find.”

“Beyond where?” asked Vax, “and how?”

“As to your first question, even I have no meaningful answer, but the second I can – that first connection to you that I sensed still lingers, so I will set you on the path then you must follow it as best you can.” Her mouth quirked in sudden amusement,   
“I know not what you will find, so you will have to, as your bardic friend likes to put it, ‘play it by ear’. But then, when did Vox Machina ever do otherwise?”

Serious again, her hand caressed his cheek and drew him to his feet. “I will not send you unprepared. Though my power is diminished within me-“  
“Ah, yes… about that trammel” muttered Vax, glancing to the side.  
“-it yet remains within my sphere of influence, nebulous until I imbue it once more.” Her eyes sharpened with intent, “Vax’ildan. Remove every material thing you would rather not lose.”

Nervously, Vax complied, pulling off his boots and belt as she continued, “I do not know if they will travel with you, let alone guarantee their return. Not that!” She commanded as Vax began to undo the buckles of his armour.   
“That I can work with, as it is already my handiwork.” She smiled again, stroking her hand across the black feathers around his shoulders, “a master of disguise, though you use that skill so rarely, something tells me it is time to be a little less conspicuous. So. Just as I wear a mask, so this armour is yours – it is for you to choose whether the man inside is seen or not.”

Bewildered, Vax began to lay his knives down as she stepped away to another shuttered archway, this one extending to the floor. Feeling naked without his weapons, he picked up the Keen Dagger and refastened the sheath to his side, figuring the possible loss of a weapon was probably not as bad as definitely not having one when he needed it.

“What would you have me do, my queen?” asked Vax, as his patron drew back the shutters to reveal a doorway opening out on the same star-speckled view.

“Come here” she commanded, reaching a hand out to his and placing the other on his shoulder as he drew close.  
The Raven Queen’s lips curved in a dark secretive smile as she locked eyes with his and he watched the pupils expand, filling the red irises with ink.   
“I knew you were the right choice the moment I accepted your bargain, champion” and with that she rose up on tiptoes to press her lips to his forehead in a kiss.

Vax shivered as sensation washed across his skin, leaving the odd sense of being at once heavy and light at the same time, suffused with energy and a slight tingling left where her lips had been. He opened his eyes, hardly even realizing that they had been shut, as she stepped to the side, and with a strength that belied her size, pushed him out into the void.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

 

Vax fell endlessly into darkness.

Instinctively the black wings opened out and beat, but could find no purchase in the airless void. Stars swam across his vision and faded, dizzying as he tumbled, directionless, without sensation of up or down, forward or backward.  
He gasped, straining to hang onto consciousness, pressing his senses out to find that thread or connection that he had been told to follow, something….. anything to hook on to…. But nothing……

 

Nothing…..

 

Nothing….. until…..

 

There.  
A single pinprick of light.

A smudge of white and blue and green at first tiny but growing and now rushing toward him, blurry now as he fell towards it, and then as his eyes closed and his mind shrank back to within the confines of his skull and the safety of unconsciousness….

 

Black.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

 

The first thing that Vax registered as he slowly came to was the noise.  
Not loud, but a continual hum of activity, punctuated but odd horns and wails, like nothing he had ever heard before. He coughed to clear the mucus from his throat and shook himself as he tentatively stood up and looked around.

Well it was certainly a city, and the dark alley that sheltered him might be lined with unfamiliar styles of buildings, but all the same, dark alleys were Vax’s favoured terrain. The sun seemed fairly high in the sky, and without any idea of directions, he wasn’t sure whether the day was before or after its midpoint.  
Though could the sun still be trusted to rise in the East and set in the West in this reality as it did in Exandria? Vax wasn’t sure.  
He melted into the shadows and studied the surroundings. The buildings lining the street were tall and made of an unfamiliar material, hard and cold like stone, but with an odd texture. Some appeared to be made from large grey bricks, and others painted, but all seemed shabby and unattended.

Skulking down the side of the road, Vax could see ahead where it opened out into a wide plaza, with the nearest source of activity apparent on the far side: hundreds of people coming and going or clustered in small groups around a large set of steps leading up to a grand entrance into the edifice of a grand cubic building, larger even than the Trial Forge temple in Vasselheim.  
Smaller buildings lined the other edges of the plaza, and on one side was a road busy with strangely shaped carriages moving, though he couldn’t see any horses or other means of pulling them.

Finding a comfortable spot to settle and watch the people, Vax pondered. Would the connection have brought him close to its source? The Raven Queen had said she sensed one connected to him for quite some time – was this part of what made him fate-touched? Had it somehow changed or influenced the choices he had made in his life? Or was it just watching?  
At this a shiver ran down his spine, ruffling his feathers, which drew Vax’s attention to his garb.

He still wore the Deathwalker’s Ward, but it felt somehow different, closer to his skin, more flexible, and as he smoothed down the ruffled feathers, he could feel each individually as if rooted into his own flesh. Looking down, he saw unfamiliar boots, yet could see how they matched and were a part of the armour.  
Disquieted, he thought back to his queen’s words – a mask was it? He unbuckled the hauberk and shrugged it off, and gaped as it evaporated into thin air as it left his grasp.

Vax shivered again as a cold breeze chilled the bare skin of his torso, and wondered how he could possibly explain this one away. Feeling uncomfortably visible, he tried to shrink even further back into the shadows, until he realized that the chill had gone and somehow he was clad in black feathers again.  
“I guess I’ll figure that one out later” Vax muttered to himself, as he turned back to watch the crowds across the plaza.

Studying the scene, he could see that though a few individuals wandered across the open square on other business, the majority were going in or out of the large building, gathering in groups on the steps outside then entering together. There seemed to be a general air of joviality and excitement – a buzz of conversation and clamour was audible even at this distance.

The diversity of the figures was odd – the vast majority seemed human and young – Vax could see no gnomes, dwarves or halflings, and though he couldn’t quite pick out the details, none moved with the characteristic grace of elves. The clothing was odd but functional – both men and women wore trousers and tops without the lacings typically found in Tal’Dorei, vividly coloured, often with script in Common or odd pictures on them.  
A significant proportion stood out though. Some dressed even more outlandishly, some more like Vax was used to, carrying weapons or implements that looked fantastically impractical, or somehow not quite right. He saw armour in bright colours as well as the standard metallics, mage robes and fancy gowns, people with blue, green or even red skin, horns or long pointed ears, and even a pair of antlers that reminded him of Keyleth, though worn here by a male.

“Well at least I won’t stand out completely like a sore thumb” he murmured quietly, then nonchalantly wandered out into the plaza, keeping his hand on the Keen Dagger for safety.

As he slowly climbed the steps, the crowd became denser and the press of bodies around him grew claustrophobic, people pushing past in one direction or the other, too many to watch all at once, until Vax glimpsed out of the corner of his eye a flash of familiar blue…  
Whirling around, he saw a lithe cloaked figure moving away from him, black braid tied off with two bright feathers. Quickly he followed, reaching out to her as she gained the uppermost step and began to turn toward him.

“Vex?...”


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

 

Of course it wasn’t Vex.

Yet the girl with the dark braid who now faced him certainly wore a similar outfit to what his sister was frequently seen in – dark grey cloak, white scaled armour, longbow (though it seemed oddly dainty and impractical) – and she looked at him now with apparent recognition.

“Oh my god, your outfit is so awesome, did you make it yourself?” she gushed at him, beaming happily.

“…errr, no, I was…. Um, given it, I guess…” Vax stuttered, non-plussed at the question.

“Nice, I wish I had it that easy - you wouldn’t believe how many thrift stores I had to visit to find enough white crocodile skin for the armour, worth it though! So are you going to the meet afterward or just the panel?”

Slightly alarmed at how the girl chattered away to him with seeming familiarity, Vax wasn’t sure what to say, “Err… I don’t know… I only just got here…”

“You should really go to the meet too, can’t let a costume like that go unadmired! Hey, if you’re on your own we should so go as a pair – Vax and Vex together! I was supposed to be going with my friend Holly as Pike, but she just text me saying she’d come down with the flu”

Struggling to follow all the odd terms the girl used, but freaked out at how she knew his and his sister’s and Pike’s names, Vax was silent as she paused for breath.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I haven’t even introduced myself! I’m Hannah – what’s your real name?”

Thinking quickly at how she obviously recognized him but assumed him to be in disguise just as she was, he plucked a name at semi-random. “…. Simon. I’m called Simon.”

“Well it’s lovely to meet you, Simon” replied Hannah with a grin. “So – fancy playing the twins and sticking with me this afternoon?”

Figuring she seemed harmless enough, that a guide wouldn’t go amiss, and being slightly charmed by her exuberance, Vax decided to acquiesce. “Sure,” he replied with a small smile, “lead the way.”

Thanking the gods that Hannah seemed to be one of those people who will just chatter away without too much input from the other person in the conversation, Vax managed to glean a few bits of information as she guided him through a series of large rooms and corridors packed with people milling about and looking at tables littered with brightly coloured objects.  
He learned that the whole event was a temporary gathering of people interested in playing games (though he didn’t think that meant cards or dice like in a tavern), that lots of people liked to dress up as someone else for these gatherings, and that Hannah was very interested in something called ‘Critical Role’ and seemed to think he was too.

Eventually they came to a pair of double doors, and Vax let himself be led through to a large hall with tiered seating, that reminded him of the lecture theatre at school back in Syngorn, though on a much larger scale. Most of the chairs were already taken, but they found a couple near the back. Weirdly, many of the people already there looked at Vax with the same recognition that Hannah had, a few even calling out greetings to them or complimenting their outfits.

“I think it’s almost time” Hannah said to him, as the few remaining seats were filled, and then the lights dimmed and the room hushed.  
A man walked out onto the stage at the front and turned to the audience.

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Critical Role Live!”

The room broke out into deafening cheers, and Vax watched in confusion as the man introduced eight others who took seats at a table on the stage, all but one of whom seemed oddly familiar, though he was sure he had never seen any of them before. As the unfamiliar one started talking, his voice amplified apparently by magic as he began describing a series of events, Vax went numb in shock.

He recognized the story.

And recognizing the story, he realized who the people on the stage reminded him of. The willowy red-haired girl was Keyleth, the quiet blonde Pike, and the dark-haired his own sister. The men too were now easy to place – the tall muscled one obviously Grog, the cheeky grin Scanlan, the one with a bright strip of blue hair and a knowing smirk was somehow Percy, and the slight pull he felt to the one with the glasses and a laconic smile must be the connection that he had followed in the first place.  
In shock, Vax could do nothing as he watched the spectacle unfold.

It was quickly clear what the basic premise was. The people on stage were pretending to be Vox Machina, while the man he didn’t recognize described the world around them and the results of their actions. Presumably the connection between this reality and his own had allowed this group to scry on them, as the events described were from a few days previous, but what Vax couldn’t understand was how the dice that were used to decide success or failure of actions continually gave the exact results that Vax remembered.

Well at least he had a starting point. He could follow these people and watch them until he saw what magic they were using to spy on him and his family.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

 

As the actors left the stage to the thunderous applause of the audience, Vax was broken out of an almost reverie as Hannah turned to him.

“Oh why do they always have to stop at such dramatic moments! Come on - lets get out of here, the fan meet starts soon, and I want to see everyone else’s costumes properly!”

Vax allowed himself to be lead through the crush of people exiting the room, and followed the general flow through the building complex to where a large group was gathering in an open courtyard. Dozens of people were dressed in outfits that he now realized were intended to represent the members of Vox Machina, though with varying degrees of success - certainly none of them looked as worn in and grubby as his compatriots were most of the time. Unsure of how to navigate the situation, Vax stuck to Hannah’s side, smiling and returning greetings where it seemed appropriate, until he noticed a thrum of excitement swell through the crowd.

Hannah gasped: “Look, I can’t believe it, Liam has come to the meet, he’s always so supportive of the community! Are you coming?” she looked to him as she paused, obviously wanting to try to meet the actor.

Vax hesitated; he didn’t think a swarm of bystanders was the best idea. “Uh… I think I’ll hang on back here - I don’t do too well in crowds.”  
Hannah looked disappointed for a moment but then brightened. “Okay, thats fair enough I guess. I’ll catch up with you later - twinnies gotta stick together!” With that, she darted into the press of people.

Vax shrank back against a pillar, glad to have a moment alone - the constant presence of so many people was tiring in itself.

“Yeah, times like this I rather like hiding in the shadows a little too…” Vax startled at the feminine but slightly gravelly drawl, as the red-haired girl that played Keyleth stood just to the side of him.  
An eyebrow raised at his surprise, she pointed behind them, “Hidden door. They’re all over the place, and a godsend at a con like this if you want to get around without being mobbed.”

He relaxed and smiled slightly. “Yes, that does seem like a good idea.”

At his words, her smile brightened, “Sweet, you’ve even got the accent down perfect! I know Liam wouldn’t want to miss seeing your costume, give me a minute and I’ll see if I can drag him away from the crowd.”

Vax frowned as the woman strode out into the courtyard. Though he had intended to rely on his stealthiness to gather information from a distance, it seemed as if the perfect opportunity was just being handed to him - was it the whole ‘fate-touched’ thing at play again?  
He watched for a while as the two actors circulated through the throng, chatting briefly with many of the fans surrounding them. Eventually, he saw them detach from the group and head towards him. Vax stepped out of the pillar’s shadow just as the man looked straight at him, visibly paled, and quickly closed the distance.

“How on earth do you look exactly like the picture in my head?” the man demanded in an intense whisper, “even the birthmark - that was never in any of the description I gave.”

“Whoah Liam, what the hell?” exclaimed the woman.

Vax raised a hand to his jaw self-consciously, and stared back at him, the odd connection feeling almost palpable at such proximity. “What do you mean ‘how’? I want to know how exactly you’ve been spying on me and my friends, and what exactly your purpose for doing so is!”

At that all three of them paused for a moment. The woman glanced around at the busy courtyard, “guys, theres certainly something weird going on but I don’t think this is the place for it. Come on.”  
With that, she motioned them both towards the concealed doorway and tensly the three of them fled from prying eyes into the service corridor.

 

Vax tried to maintain a sense of their direction as Marisha hurried them down the featureless hallway, but the identical corridors were difficult to keep track of after a couple of turns. Finally they exited into a rectangular room that had several blocky cushioned chairs dotted around, mostly occupied by two more of the actors that Vax had seen on stage earlier.

“Guys, there is something f*ing freaky going on here, but please suspend your disbelief for a few minutes and hear this out.” She turned to the bemused half-elf and gestured at the group. “I think a proper introduction is in order, if you please?”

Nonplussed, Vax decided to put on his best Court manners. “Vax’ildan Vessar of Vox Machina at your service, bringing the greetings of the Raven Queen” he made a leg and bowed, then straightened and scratched his head awkwardly. “Or, err, not at your service so much, since she actually sent me to investigate you….” He trailed off seeing their enquiring faces.

Liam stepped forward with “Don’t ask me how, but this is not a f*ing cosplayer!” in an intense whisper.

As most of the group stared in shock, Vax watched as the man who had been narrating the story was gazing into nothing, “Well I guess that explains why the dreams were so vivid…” he murmured.

Everyone turned toward him and the room erupted into clamour. Feeling like he needed to take charge of the situation, Vax took half a pace forwards, and allowed the black raven wings to manifest and arch above him.

“Like I said,” he proclaimed loudly, “I’m here to investigate how you have been spying on me and mine.” He continued in a more conciliatory tone, “Admittedly I had hoped to go about this slightly more subtly, but you always did have sharp eyes, Kiki” he paused at his own mistake, and then shivered as he felt a something smooth over his feathers.

Looking to his side, he saw the one called Liam withdrawing his hand. “Well if I wasn’t sure before, I’d certainly believe now. No special effects ever made those.”

“Seriously, what the hell is going on?” said Vax, as he watched Liam speaking the same words perfectly in synchronization with him.

“Oh wow” said the man with blue hair, “Now that really is freaky!”


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

 

After a rather confusing explanation about how the cast performed the show that Vax had watched earlier, he concluded that they didn’t seem to know any more than he did about the psychic connections that the Raven Queen had noticed, in fact they had been wholly unaware that the game they played was more than just a product of their imaginations.

Vax supposed given the existence of the links, he could understand how the thoughts or memories of his friends in the actors’ minds could be perceived as their own creation, but he still didn’t have an explanation for how the random parts of the game – the dice rolls – could play out exactly as he remembered.  
He found both the similarities and differences between his friends and these actors uncanny.   
Taliesin seemed to perfectly embody the intellectualism of Percy, but didn’t have any of his stand-offishness. Marisha had some of Keyleth’s awkwardness and her sense of fun, but was so much more confident. Matt’s reserve was like that of Allura, and when Vax looked at Liam he could feel his own sense of fatalism but it seemed more considered and less impulsive.

They established that the time difference between their worlds did not seem to be linear – currently this world seemed to be only slightly behind Exandria, but they would not be playing out the continuance of the journey into the titan until a full week later.

“So what now?” he asked.

Finally, after having remained quiet through most of the conversation, Matt spoke up. “I wonder if the link only goes one way. Are we influencing events to take a certain path?” He looked troubled.

Vax was struck by the notion. This was what his patron was worried about. But this group seemed to have the same goals for Exandria as Vox Machina – how could they test the notion without potentially changing things for the worse?

He turned to Liam. “As we climbed through the titan, we encountered a creature, of no final import but it did cause us some small harm. With this knowledge, perhaps I would have approached the situation differently.”

Liam cocked his head to one side. “Hmmm. But how will you know if it worked? How will we know?”

Vax shrugged. “If it works maybe I will remember it differently. Maybe not. We’ll see. For you – well I got here once so I guess I can get here again.”

Matt interjected: “But how did you get here in the first place? And how do you go back? Is it something we can do?”

“My Queen sent me here. As to returning, she didn’t say directly, but there is only one way I have ever truly entered her domain.” 

Matt paled, as he realised what the half-elf's bleak words implied. Vax grimaced and drawing the Keen Dagger, quickly sliced the blade across his own throat.

The actors all jumped up in horror, Liam catching him by the shoulders and holding him up as the strength left Vax’s legs and he sagged in his grasp, blood pouring over both of them. Despite their physical differences it felt almost like looking into a mirror.

“Look after this for me” he whispered motioning to the dagger weakly, then his vision faded to black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Seven will be uploaded on Thursday 15th November 7pm GMT.


End file.
